One of the most challenging experiences for me during my divorce, was simply dealing with lawyers, attending meetings, discoveries, examinations and finally trial.

It can be intimidating to say the least. It’s one thing to sit with your own lawyer in their office but very different to sit across from your ex and his lawyer in a conference room. Add a court reporter, recording devices, piles of documents and know that you’re going to be grilled by a lawyer any moment, and you start to sweat.

We hear about bullies on the playground. We worry our child will get bullied at school or even worse, we worry our child will be the bully. But bullying is something that goes on throughout our lives. It doesn’t end on the playground. We can experience it in the workplace, in a relationship, in a friendship and most likely in a divorce. Yes, there are such things as divorce bullies.

source; Dreamstime

I’m very pleased to introduce to you Brad Micklin of The Micklin Law Group out of New Jersey, N.Y.  Brad generously agreed to answer my interview questions and you, dear readers will benefit from his family law wisdom.

image source; littlebowsweetsblogspot.ca

There was nothing more painful than the kid’s birthdays during divorce.  Will they be with mom or dad and what do they want to do? If you’re in the wrong week according to the custody schedule, you may not get to see them on their special day.  It can feel ‘all wrong’ especially when you were the stay at home mom who planned all the previous parties.

image source pinterest

We think it’s the right dress for us. We loved that color at the time…but now looking back at an old photo we wonder “What was I thinking?”

Huge shoulder pads, ‘pleather’ pants, floral material at the bottom of our bell bottom jeans.  Pea green skirts and dresses to match our appliances.  Stirrup pants with white boots? Onesies—oh they’re back, baby but you won’t catch me in one.  How about the Grunge era? Did you have a man to match your baggy plaid shirt, Doc Martins and greasy hair?  Kurt Cobain was kind of hot.

If you’re in the middle of your divorce you probably feel like you’re chasing paper. You may have legal papers and bills spread out on your living room table.  You have important letters from your lawyer mixed up in your mail.  You haven’t opened the last envelope from your lawyer because you’re worried it’s a huge bill. These lawyers fees add up pretty quickly, while nothing seems to be getting done at all.  Sound familiar?

Ryan Reynolds would make a dreamy handyman

Warning: this post is full of double meanings and suggestive scenes. Ladies, have you found your HANDYMAN yet? Every ‘single’ woman needs a HandyMan on her speed dial. Preferably, he’ll know how to use a variety of tools to fix your broken toilet OR your broken heart…”hey Baby, I’m your handy man…” As James Taylor crooned back in the day.

As promised, this is Part 2 of the Narcissist subject. If you missed Part 1 then you can read it here. We discussed the difference between a run of the mill A**hole and a Narcissist in Part 1. 

Understanding the differences and similarities can help us put the personality disorder into perspective and reduce our inclination to label people including our exes. Before embarking on this post we need to understand that we all have some narcissistic qualities but it is the extreme Narcissistic personality that we discuss here.

In honor of my 50th birthday…gulp…I’m sharing my humble list of 50 things I’ve learned in 50 years.  Some things are funny.  Some are things you’ll say “She’s just figured that out now?”  Yes, I’m still figuring things out…so please have a read and a laugh.  I have a special request for you though, before you make too much fun of me, share at least one thing you’ve learned in the comments 🙂

Sometimes I’ll get a question and my answer makes me feel a little like Ann Landers. I know I flatter myself when I say that but read this q & a and you’ll know what I mean.

Question:

How would I find out if my boyfriend and his soon to be ex wife followed through with their Court date or if they cancelled the whole process of the divorce?  My boyfriend tells me the court got pushed back but no specific date given yet; I have reasons to believe they may have